Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
by Gamma Orionis
Summary: Sometimes the holidays are a beautiful, happy time. Sometimes they're dreary or miserable. Often, they're in between. Drabble collection for the Quickies Advent Calendar on awdt on LiveJournal. Part 18: Bellatrix/Andromeda/Narcissa
1. Candy Cane Pops - Ginny and Luna

Author's Notes: Happy December, everyone! This collection of drabbles is for the Quickies Advent Calendar on awdt on LiveJournal. A new drabble will be posted every day until December 31.

Feel free to request pairings or characters, even ones that I don't usually write.

Enjoy, and happy holidays!

* * *

_Ginny and Luna – Candy Cane Pops  
__Word Count: 150_

)O(

When Ginny was ten years old and brought Luna over to her house for the holidays, the first thing that Luna looked at were the candies that Mrs. Weasley had made. They were little marshmallows coated with chocolate, with a candy cane sticking out of the top of each one, and Luna's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets when she saw them. She leaned over the tray, staring.

"What are they?"

"Just sweets." Ginny picked up one by the candy-cane hook and handed it to Luna. "Try it."

Luna stuck it into her mouth immediately. She bit into the marshmallow and chocolate and a look of absolute joy crossed her face.

"This is _good_," she mumbled through the candy. "Daddy never makes anything like this."

"What about your mum?"

"My mum's dead," Luna said, so matter-of-factly that Ginny didn't register the meaning at first.


	2. Advent Calendar - Harry and Tonks

_Harry/Tonks – Advent Calendar  
Word Count: 200_

Written for Toaneo07 Ver2.0, who requested Harry/Tonks. Enjoy!

)O(

Of all the Muggle Christmas traditions that Harry told her about, Tonks thought that Advent calendars were the most pointless.

"I don't understand," she said blankly, when Harry described the boards with twenty-five little doors in them, one for a child to open each day from December first until Christmas. "Why wouldn't you open them all at once?"

"Because you're counting down until Christmas," Harry explained. "If you open all the doors at once, you have to wait until next year to get another one. Well, most kids do," he added. "My cousin could usually get my aunt and uncle to buy him another… and another… and another…"

"Did they get them for you too?"

"'Course not," Harry said, with a dull little laugh. "There wouldn't have been a point. Dudley would have taken it."

Tonks fell silent after that, pondering Advent calendars and Harry's cousin and how unpleasant the Muggles he had lived with must have been.

On December first, an owl tapped on Harry's window with a large package tied to her legs.

There was a note tucked into the wrapping.

_Harry,_

_If you open all the doors on the first day, I'll buy you another._

_Love, Tonks_


	3. Shopping - Katie and Oliver

_Oliver/Katie – Shopping  
Word Count: 200_

Written for TellatrixForever, who requested Katie/Oliver. Enjoy!

)O(

Snow was falling in Diagon Alley, but the inside of Quality Quidditch Supplies was warm and comfortable. Katie had been in there for half the afternoon, walking through the shelves again and again, reading over labels, considering and reconsidering prices, and wracking her brain to try to remember what Oliver had said that he wanted for Christmas.

Gloves? No, he already had a pair that he loved. A broomstick? Too expensive. A picture of his favourite team?

Katie paused in front of a row of photographs, all of featuring groups of seven people smiling and waving out at her. Her eyes fell on one of Puddlemere United, with Oliver right at the centre, positively glowing. He was leaning on his broom, trying to look like he wasn't absolutely exploding with happiness.

But she knew him. She knew that he was.

She just had to smile back.

"I'll take that one," she told the clerk, who had been glaring at her for the past hour while she prowled the store. "The photograph of Puddlemere United. And," she added, unable to pull a wide smile off her face, "I wonder if you could tell me the best place to get it framed?"


	4. Decorating - Draco and Tonks

_Draco/Tonks – Decorating  
Word Count: 200_

Written for Oneofthosepeopleonthestreet, who requested Draco/Tonks. Enjoy!

)O(

Draco's parents didn't know about his little excursions to his cousin's home.

No one was paying much attention to Draco's comings and goings, and he found it easy to slip away and make his way to Tonks' home. His mother had had the address written down for her own use – something about her still being family, in spite of everything. Stupid of her, really.

Draco hovered outside the little house and watched through the windows while Tonks decorated for Christmas. He watched her using her wand to fling tinsel onto the tree, then watched as she knocked over the tree and tried to catch it.

Even when she was struggling under the weight of the tree, she emanated a sort of exuberant cheer that Draco found enviable. She would not be made sad by her own mistakes. She would not let herself be.

Draco watched her and watched her and wondered how she was possibly able to keep smiling like that. He wondered how anywhere in the world could seem as warm and welcoming as her house while Malfoy Manor was so cold and forbidding.

And he wished more than anything that he could be a part of her life.


	5. Deck the Halls - Harry and Tonks

_Harry/Tonks – "If I hear 'Deck the Halls' one more time, I'm going to deck someone!  
Word Count: 200_

Written for tonkslover94, who requested Harry/Tonks. Enjoy!

)O(

"I wish he would just shut up."

Harry was sitting on the moth-eaten sofa in the parlour of Number 12, Grimmauld Place, and he was referring to Sirius, who was loudly singing in the kitchen. His voice, off-key but exuberant, floated up to the parlour where Harry was sitting and Tonks was decorating.

"He's just feeling festive," she said, flicking her wand and levitating a small ceramic angel to the top. It wobbled there precariously and she bit her lip in concentration.

"If I hear 'Deck the Halls' one more time, I'm going to deck someone," Harry said, rubbing his forehead.

Tonks pouted at him. "I don't think I've ever seen someone so miserable at Christmas."

"Yeah, can't imagine why I'd be miserable. I'm only here because I saw Mr. Weasley nearly killed, that's all."

Tonks lowered her wand and the angel crashed to the ground.

She ignored it and tossed her wand aside.

"Let me cheer you up," she said, stepping towards him, and Harry's heart leapt, but before Tonks could even reach the couch where he was sitting, the tree fell over with a magnificent crash. Tonks looked at the wreckage and winced.

"Right after I fix that."


	6. Are You Sure? - Lily and Roxanne

_Lily Luna/Roxanne – Are you sure this is safe?  
Word Count: 200_

Written for autumn midnights, who requested Lily Luna/Roxanne. Enjoy!

)O(

Roxanne and Lily were standing at the top of a hill, looking down at the deep layer of snow covering it. Lily was clinging to Roxanne's hand.

"Are you sure that this is safe?" Lily asked nervously.

"Of course it is." Roxanne pulled her towards the edge of the hill. "I've done it before."

"I don't know…"

"Come on!" Roxanne wrapped her arms around Lily's waist, holding her so tightly that she couldn't move, then threw herself off the edge of the hill. The two of them tumbled down into the snow, rolling and sliding down the hill in a flurry of powdery snow. Lily tucked her head against Roxanne's chest and held on tight, afraid to let go. The world was turning upside down, spinning around and she didn't know up from down or left from right…

Then they rolled to a stop and lay in a mess of snow at the bottom. Lily's head was on Roxanne's heaving chest and she could feel her heartbeat pounding rapidly beneath her coat.

"We might have broken our necks," Lily panted, a little bit resentfully.

"But we didn't," Roxanne said, grinning up at the sky. "Isn't that good enough for you?"


	7. Fresh Snow - Bellatrix and Voldemort

_Bellatrix/Voldemort – Fresh Snow  
Word Count: 200_

Written for TellatrixForever, who requested Bellatrix/Voldemort. Enjoy!

)O(

The night was bitterly cold, but Bellatrix was not bothered. The only thing that she cared about was that the Dark Lord had his arms around her, his chest pressed against her back, and she was watching her own blood drip into the snow.

He had a knife pressed against her throat and every breath she took made the sharp edge dig lightly into her skin. Her neck was criss-crossed with thin scratches, and he had cut her more deeply several times, so that her blood could spill onto the ground.

"Look at it, Bella," he whispered in her ear. His voice was silk-smooth and as cold as the snow she knelt upon. "Look at your blood."

"I- I am looking, my Lord." Her voice trembled.

"So pure… and so easily spilt." He drew the knife across her neck again, and a few more crimson droplets splashed onto the snow. "Your blood, for all its purity, will never be enough to protect you."

"I am capable of protecting myself, my Lord," he told him.

"I know," he breathed, then lowered the knife and allowed her to turn her head. "The quality of your mind matches the quality of your blood."


	8. Angels - Bellatrix and Rodolphus

_Bellatrix/Rodolphus – Angels  
Word Count: 200_

Written for TellatrixForever, who requested Bellatrix/Rodolphus. Enjoy!

)O(

Bellatrix rarely took interest in Christmas festivities that involved her husband, but he did not let that discourage him. He hosted parties on her behalf, decorated the manor for her, provided her with the finest gifts that he could find, and all in the hopes that someday, she would smile at him.

None of those ever achieved it.

He never saw her smile on Christmas, until one year, when he came home early one afternoon and found her in the parlour, looking at the small statues of angels set out on the mantelpiece.

They were crude little clay statues that he had purchased for a few knuts at a stand on Diagon Alley, and the only reason he had bought them was that they had little fluttering silver wings that caught the light rather prettily. He had put them on the mantle on a whim and not expected Bellatrix to even take notice.

"Do you like them?" he asked. She turned around and he could see her struggling to keep a smile off her face.

"They're… all right, I suppose," she said, but he could tell how much she loved those angels.

He moved them to her bedroom that night.


	9. Christmas Throne - Kingsley and Rosmerta

_Kingsley/Rosmerta – Father Christmas's Throne  
Word Count: 400_

Written for HedwigBlack, who requested Kingsley/Rosmerta. Enjoy!

)O(

News from the war had been bad – always bad, always news that made Kingsley withdrawn and miserable. Rosmerta did her best to offer him some sort of cheer, and she had hoped that Christmas would brighten his spirits just a bit, but he walked into the Three Broomsticks on Christmas Eve, looking as miserable as ever. He sank down onto a chair in a corner, which Rosmerta had decorated like Father Christmas's throne _just for him._

"How was work?" Rosmerta asked tentatively. She reached for a tankard of butterbeer for him, but he waved one hand at her and rested the other upon his forehead, shielding his eyes.

"Now's not the time, Rosmerta. I don't want anything to drink."

"Bad day?"

"All the days are bad now," he said, glancing up at her for a moment and then covering his eyes. "I thought that things would be over by Christmas, but they aren't, and I- I shouldn't be here. I haven't got anything to give you. Nothing to make me worth feeding."

She set the tankard down on the bar and placed her hands on her hips, drawing herself up to her full height and glaring at him. "Is that what you think? You don't think that you have anything to offer me?"

"No," he said firmly. "The war isn't going to end this Christmas. I can't keep you safe. I'm putting you in danger by being here and it's going to end."

"No, it most certainly is not!" Rosmerta told him. Her voice rose a few notes and she felt tears coming to her eyes. "Do you think that just because you can't stand sentry here every day to protect me, I'm somehow in more danger than anyone else? I can take care of myself, Kingsley!"

"Why are you so _stubborn_?" He lifted his head and glared at her, and his dark eyes shone visibly with tears. "All I want to do is protect you, and I can't! I'm of no use to you."

Rosmerta stepped around the bar. She marched up to Kingsley and grasped him by either side of his head, tipping it back and kissing him firmly.

"I don't love you because you're _of use to me_, you git," she murmured against his lips. "I love you because _I love you._ Now stop trying to convince me that you're no good for me. It won't work."


	10. Christmas Baking - Severus and Lily

_Severus/Lily – Christmas Baking  
Word Count: 100_

Written for hervissa, who requested Severus/Lily. Enjoy!

)O(

Lily could bake better than anyone Severus had ever known.

When he thought about her, he always associated her with the faint scent of cinnamon and burning sugar and toffee and spices that hovered about her for the entire holiday season.

When they were young, she brought him biscuits that she made with her sister – and later, on her own – and they sat out in the snow and ate them.

Severus's mother never made biscuits.

Severus wished that he could go with Lily and live in her world, where things smelled sweet and someone was always smiling.

But he couldn't.


	11. Outdoor Decorations - Eileen and Severus

_Eileen and Severus – Outdoor Decorations  
Word Count: 100_

Written for hervissa, who requested Severus and Eileen. Enjoy!

)O(

Eileen Prince wanted to make Christmas a good time for her son.

She didn't know how to do it – she knew full well that no amount of false cheer could make up for beatings from his father and the cold and tense silence that settled over the house afterwards. She wasn't that naïve.

But she tried her best for little Severus.

He toddled beside her as she decorated the outside of the house (the only place that Tobias let her decorate) and Eileen prayed that before next Christmas, she and Severus would have left Spinner's End – would be somewhere safe.


	12. Lanterns - Lily and James

_Lily/James – Lanterns  
Word Count: 100_

Written for Ellen Potter, who requested Lily/James. Enjoy!

)O(

Lily balanced her son on her hip and waved her wand, levitating Christmas lanterns so that they hovered around the trim of the house. Snowflakes had just begun to fall and she hummed Christmas carols to herself.

"Nice job, Evans," James murmured, putting one arm around her and looking up at the lanterns. Lily lowered her wand and hoisted her baby more securely into her arms. She turned and kissed James swiftly.

"I hope every Christmas is like this," she told him, her voice soft and warm.

"They will be," he promised. "For years and years and years to come…"


	13. Nutcrackers - Harry and Ginny

_Harry/Ginny – Nutcrackers  
Word Count: 200_

Written for Ellen Potter, who requested Harry/Ginny. Enjoy!

)O(

Ginny sat cross-legged on the carpet and tried to figure out how the nutcracker that Harry had bought worked.

"Harry," she called, turning the nutcracker (it looked like a doll to her, but Harry insisted that it was used for cracking nuts) over and over in her hands. "What do you do with it?"

He was in the kitchen, struggling not to burn the fruitcake, and he stuck his head out to talk to her. "You put the nut in and crush it."

"I don't understand," Ginny said, frowning. "Where do you put the nut? In its mouth? How do I make it crush it? And are you sure that this is safe?" she added warily, looking at the nutcracker's bared teeth. "It looks like it could eat someone."

"Here." Harry brushed his hands off on his jeans and went over to her. He picked up a walnut from the bowl beside Ginny and fit it expertly between the nutcracker's jaws. He pulled up sharply on its arm. Its jaws came together with fearsome force, splitting the shell.

"It's a little tricky," Harry told her. "But I've heard that they're good luck to have, even if you don't use them."


	14. Ornaments - Remus and Tonks

_Remus/Tonks – Ornaments  
Word Count: 100_

Written for Ellen Potter, who requested Remus/Tonks. Enjoy!S

)O(

"What do you think of this?" Tonks asked, holding out her arms and spinning around for Remus. She was wearing a bright red dress, spangled in silver, and her hair was shoulder length and emerald green. Her skin sparkled with pale silver, though Remus was unsure whether that was on purpose, or whether she had upended a tin of glitter on herself.

"You look like a Christmas tree ornament," he told her after a moment. Tonks grinned.

"Thank you," she said. She draped her arms around his neck. "That's the best compliment I've ever gotten. I love Christmas tree ornaments."


	15. Peace - Minerva and Albus

_Minerva/Albus – Peace  
Word Count: 200_

Written for Ellen Potter, who requested Dumbledore/McGonagall. Enjoy!

)O(

It was the first Christmas since the war had ended, and Minerva was on edge.

She couldn't help it. She had grown so used to believing that, at any moment, the school might be attacked – so used to never letting her guard down – that she couldn't remember how to celebrate Christmas without her wand in her hand and a thousand protective spells around herself.

Albus seemed to have no such difficulties.

"Do come out to the Three Broomsticks and have a drink with me, Minerva," he said brightly after dinner on Christmas Eve. "It will do you good."

"I do not think so, Albus," she said crisply. Her hand shook a little on the handle of her wand just imagining going out into the village without planning it for days in advance.

"Minerva." He took her hand and pulled her out of the high-backed chair she was in. "You should not worry so much anymore. The war is over. The world is at peace – for the moment, at least. There is no reason not to do something for leisure once every so often. And besides," he added, when Minerva opened her mouth to protest, "I've told Rosmerta we'll be there."


	16. Wreath - Bellatrix and Voldemort

_Bellatrix/Voldemort – Wreath  
Word Count: 300_

Written for hervissa, who requested Bellatrix/Voldemort. Enjoy!

)O(

Bellatrix had wandered away from her parents' Christmas party, and she was wandering through the manor, listening to the distant chatter of the guests and pretending to be enthralled by the decorations that the house-elves had put up, when she heard a soft cough from behind her.

She turned around and her eyes lit up when she saw the Dark Lord.

"My Lord," she said, dropping into a curtsey immediately. "What a pleasure to see you here."

"Should you not be at the party, Bellatrix?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"I would rather be alone – or with… good company," she said, a slight flush colouring her cheeks. She brushed a lock of dark hair off her forehead, tucking it behind the crimson wreath of ribbons that Narcissa had wound in her hair.

"You consider me good company, I take it?"

"I do, my Lord…"

He was at her side in an instant, pressing her gently but firmly against the wall. Bellatrix's eyes glittered with anticipation as his hands hovered over her waist, so close that she could almost feel them. His fingers brushed her, and then he hesitated.

"Your parents may come looking for you…"

"They will not notice," Bellatrix assured him, and she laid one hand brazenly upon his, pulling it close to her. "They pay little enough attention to me…"

That seemed persuasion enough for him. His lips came down firmly against hers, his hands ran over her body, and Bellatrix closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of his touch, the sound of his breathing becoming ever more ragged as the kiss went on and on, and the smell of him – sharp, clean, just a little bitter… or perhaps that was the smell of the Christmas wreaths that flanked them on either side.


	17. Holly - Remus and Sirius

_Sirius/Remus – Holly  
Word Count: 200_

Written for Budapest All Over Again, who requested Sirius/Remus. Enjoy!

)O(

"I think that your family does a really good job of decorating for the holidays," Remus said, when he visited Sirius's home in the Christmas of their fifth year. He supposed that the house-elves were behind it, but he thought that it still looked good.

"It's ugly as sin," Sirius snorted, leaning carelessly against the wall and crossing his arms.

"No, it's not." Remus lifted his hand to touch a holly wreathe that was hanging from the wall.

Sirius scoffed, then straightened up and grabbed the bough of holly off the wall. He looped it around Remus's neck and pulled him closer, until their chests were pressed together.

"I can't stand Christmas here. Don't try to convince me otherwise, Moony," he muttered, then, before Remus could say anything, he leaned forward and kissed him hard.

Remus's first reaction was to pull away, but the loop of holly around his neck was just enough to stop him from jerking back automatically, and the longer he spent _not_ moving back, the less he wanted to.

At last, Sirius lifted his head and smiled mischievously at him.

"Merry Christmas, Moony," he whispered, then kissed him one more time, quickly, before dropping the holly.


	18. Why - Bellatrix, Andromeda, Narcissa

_Bellatrix/Andromeda/Narcissa – "Why does she think I need one of these?"  
Word Count: 200_

Written for Budapest All Over Again, who requested Bellatrix/Andromeda/Narcissa. Enjoy!

Warning: Implication of underage/incest.

)O(

"Why," Narcissa demanded, storming into her sisters' room on Christmas day with something clenched in one fist, "does Mother think I need one of _these?_"

"One of what?" Andromeda asked mildly. She and Bellatrix were lying in bed, reading from the same book, and Andromeda seemed much more interested in discreetly rubbing her foot against Bellatrix's calf than in what Narcissa had to say.

"_Look!_" Narcissa's voice broke and she opened her fist to show a crumpled, lacy bra.

Bellatrix glanced over, then dissolved into giggles.

"That's what Mother got you for Christmas?" she asked, sitting up, and Narcissa sniffed, dashing tears from her eyes.

"_Yes!_"

"But you don't have…" Andromeda gestured at her chest, raising one eyebrow, and Narcissa glared at her.

"I _know_ I don't have anything there yet!" she said, her face burning. "That's why I don't know why she thought she should get me one!"

"Shut up, Andi." Bellatrix stood up and crossed the room, then knelt on the bed next to Narcissa and pulled the bra out of her hands. "Take off your shirt, Cissy, and try it on." She rested her chin on Narcissa's shoulder and whispered, "I bet you'll look pretty in it."


End file.
